They looked pale and exhausted as they waited for their suitcases – containing the few items they had managed to pack in their car when they fled their home in Ukraine – while picking up luggage at Luton Airport.
But smiles of relief shone as the family – mother, father and three children – entered the arrivals hall to be greeted by a welcome banner, cake bags and warm hugs from their host, retired teacher Cora Hall, who opened it. Home in Staffordshire as part of a new refugee sponsorship program.
“I am so full of emotions,” said mother Irina, 34. But most of all, I am extremely happy to be here. Cora looks very nice and the children are happy to be in the UK. Her husband, Vladislav, 37, held the children, eight-year-old Hlib, Timothy, 11, and Valeria, 14, close, and repeated one of the few English phrases she knew to everyone: “Thank you.”
The new end-to-end scheme – Communities for Ukraine – is based on cooperation between two charities, Citizens UK and Ukrainian Sponsorship Pathway UK. USPUK, set up by lawyers and entrepreneurs, is hiring Ukrainian officials in Poland to help refugees researching resettlement in the UK.
The family met their host Cora Hall in Staffordshire for the first time at Luton Airport. Photo: Martin Godwin / Guardian
Citizens UK, the charity that helped set up the UK’s Syrian sponsorship scheme, has appointed 20 deep-rooted civil society organizations in their communities as strategic partners. Each partner – mostly religious groups and educational institutions – is committed to finding 50 hosts, and Citizens UK conducts training to ensure that matches are stable and sustainable.
The status of the scheme has been recognized by the United Kingdom, but the ambition is to provide a safer, more streamlined, better-maintained system than the much-criticized government response to the refugee crisis.
The night before leaving for the United Kingdom, Vladislav and Irina packed their bags at a refugee hostel in Krakow and spoke of their sadness at leaving home in Pavlograd, central eastern Ukraine, and their hopes for life in the United Kingdom. .
“We couldn’t believe it when the war started,” said Vladislav, who was a senior manager at a construction company. “We knew our area would be one of the first to be affected.” At first, they stayed put, heading for the terribly cold bomb shelters when the sirens sounded and the missiles struck.
Little Amal, the giant puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian girl, waves to the family as they board their plane for the United Kingdom. Photo: Martin Godwin / Guardian
“They said only strategic sites would be targeted,” Irina said. “But there were rocket attacks in our neighborhood that hit civilian areas. It was very, very scary. We felt we had to leave. “
Vladislav was allowed to accompany his family, as he and his wife have three children, so they packed a few things in their car – along with their Pomeranian Spitz – and headed west, arriving in Poland three days later. in the begining of March.
“We went to a refugee center,” Vladislav said. “They offered us accommodation for a month and said the war would end and we could return home.” It quickly became clear that there would be no quick end to the conflict. “We realized that there are so many Ukrainians in Poland that there would be no job opportunities and we would not be able to move forward. We decided to apply to go to another country. “
The family lives in two small rooms. It was cramped, but they were more fortunate than refugees living in tents in Krakow or in an abandoned shopping center, where about 300 live in a strip-lit area.
Irina said that now they desperately want the children to go to school. “They didn’t have a proper education for two years because of Covid – and then came the war. The family has never left Ukraine before and has not flown until this weekend.
Ukrainian refugees sleep in an abandoned shopping center that has been turned into a hostel in Krakow. Photo: Martin Godwin / Guardian
In the days before they left, they contacted their host by email, asking about topics ranging from the time and price of food to Vladislav’s job prospects. He is desperate to work. “The United Kingdom feels like a dream country,” Irina said, “something you read about in books. We never imagined we would go there. “
They had a hard time saying goodbye to their dog, who is being cared for by relatives in Krakow, and to the friends the children made at the hostel. At Krakow airport, the family was removed by Little Amal, a giant Syrian girl doll created to draw attention to the plight of refugees, to their flight, funded by the Shapiro Foundation.
Cora Hall, who was involved in the Communities of Ukraine scheme through the Catholic Social Welfare Agency in Birmingham, Father Hudson’s Care, had borrowed a school van to take them from Luton to Staffordshire. “I’m excited and nervous,” she said after meeting with the family. “I told myself not to hug them, to give them a little space when they arrived, but I couldn’t help but see them. It seemed natural to do something. “
She researched schools, banks and the location of other Ukrainian families and stocked up on the family’s favorite foods. She knows that the neighbors will come with cakes and offers of help. “We can do this,” she said. “Together we will make it work.”
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